CRIME
U.S. Floyd death protests
June 1, 2020 - Protests have erupted in cities across the United States sparked by the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis.
On the evening of Monday, May 25, police received a phone call from a neighbourhood grocery store alleging that Floyd had paid with a counterfeit $20 note. According to police, he physically resisted officers and was handcuffed and pinned to the ground where he died from asphyxiation.
Curfews have been enforced in Minneapolis as well as Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, with the National Guard deployed to deal with the protests.
It has emerged that President Donald Trump and his family were rushed to a White House bunker on Friday as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the executive mansion. Trump reportedly spent almost an hour sheltering in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center under the East Wing of the White House.
Trump has been labelled “Bunker Boy” for hiding and turning off the White House lights. In tweets on Sunday, Trump blamed anarchists and the media for fuelling violence.
The police officer involved in the death of Floyd, Derek Chauvin, has been sacked and charged with third-degree murder. Three other officers who were involved in the incident were fired but not yet charged.